Persons traveling or making temporary changes in habitation often result in situations where existing credit and banking systems are inconvenient and unreliable. These problems may be further complicated when travelers are to receive money from a remotely-located institution.
One method of distributing money to individuals when traveling may involve distributing cash to individuals before the travel commences. However, problems arise regarding the distribution of money via corporate designees, for example, because handling large amounts of cash can result in loss and incorrect distribution. Persons receiving funds are also at risk of loss, and once cash is distributed to a person, the moneys cannot be tracked.
In some money-distribution applications, financial institutions such as banks and credit unions are used as middlemen to transfer money from one location to another and from one individual to another, allowing funds to be transferred to a designee's bank account from another individual or corporation, for example. One problem with funds transfers is that it requires both transferor and transferee to have an established relationship with the financial institution. For an occasional traveler needing to receive money, this may not be practicable.
Bank cards such as debit and credit cards are a common example of how corporate institutions transfer money to a designee. In one example, a corporate institution having a traditional bank account may receive a credit card and issue the credit card to a designee. The designee may then use the card to withdraw money from the corporate institution's bank account. If enabled to access Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs), debit cards shared in this manner could be used to credit money to a transferee located in many places in the world.
There is a need to overcome the limitations and drawbacks of funds distribution and a need to provide more convenient modes of distributing money from corporations to designees such as travelers or temporary residents via financial institutions. Further, there is a need for a system allowing a corporate entity to easily transfer money to a designee via a financial institution without the requirement of establishing individual accounts at branch locations and a need to track and audit purchases by the designee once funds are distributed.